The ONLY way Airbnb is going to eliminate this completely flawed "Awaiting Payment" policy which does not exist in any other business (think hotels, airlines, etc.) is for hosts to Submit Feedback to Airbnb over and over again. If Airbnb insists on having an "Awaiting Payment" period for guests, the following should apply. Feel free to copy and paste and include in your feedback.
Go to the Airbnb site and type in the basic URL plus a slash plus feedback to get the page to submit feedback.
1. When hosts receive an "Awaiting Payment" notification after accepting a reservation request, Airbnb should allow hosts to "Cancel Pending Reservation" WITHOUT penalty.
2. Guests should have no more than 90 minutes to take care of their payment, or the reservation cancels automatically.
3. A host's calendar should NEVER be blocked until a reservation is paid for and confirmed.
4. Guests should be penalized when they submit reservation requests without verified payment and the reservation ends up canceling.
Best solution: The platform should be setup so a guest CANNOT even send a reservation request without his/her payment methods being verified and ready to go.